Marana High School
Tucson, AZ
Charlene Roll is a Career and Technical Education Criminal Justice Instructor at Marana High School in Tucson. She has been an educator for a total of 24 years. Her career has been a full-circle experience. Charlene began as a Law Magnet Program Manager/Teacher and Teen Court Coordinator at South Mountain High School for ten years and went on to hold teaching and administration positions at South Mountain Community College, Salpointe Catholic High School, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson. As of August 2022, Charlene has returned to the classroom teaching Criminal Justice/Law and Public Safety at Marana High School in Tucson.
At Marana High School, Charlene teaches six different levels of Criminal Justice courses to 9-12th grade students. Upon graduation, her students receive certifications in the following: Private Security, APCO 911 Telecommunications Dispatch, First Aid/CPR/AED, Psychological First Aid, FEMA: Incident Command Systems, and FEMA: National Incident Management Systems. During her first year at Marana High School, Charlene developed a peer mediation program where trained high school law students handle mediation cases referred from the Marana High School Associate Principal's Office. As a law teacher, she continues to train students on juvenile recidivism and restorative justice by developing and leading a new school-based Teen Court program in Pima County. This year, Charlene will be taking two teams from Marana High School to the Mock Mediation Tournament and Regional Mock Trial Tournament.
In 2012, Charlene received her National Board Certification. She has been the recipient of the following awards: John J. Ross Award for Teacher Excellence in Law Related Education in 2004 and 2009, Recognition for Outstanding Contributions to Maricopa County Juvenile Probation Teen Court Programs in 2006, Employee of the Year at South Mountain High School in 2009, and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Award Winner in 2021. In November 2022, she was a speaker for the Arizona Teen Court Association on Restorative Justice and Teen Court programs.
Charlene has had the honor to meet Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Dr. Madeline Albright. Charlene has looked up to these two famous historical women as great role models for her own career in education and leadership. For Charlene, her greatest success is when her students contact her to celebrate their career and college graduation accomplishments beyond high school. In her words, "I hope to impact every student by always making a difference in their lives."
Besides Charlene's students, her greatest joy is her family. Charlene has been married for 29 years and raised three children with her husband Robert. Her children have followed Charlene’s example of following their dreams as they pursue their own careers in juvenile detention, exercise sports science, and military service. As a true shining example of excellence in law-related education, Charlene’s goal for the future is to continue molding law-related leaders for our community and world.